Earthquake sequences often deviate from simple mainshock-aftershock patterns, exhibiting complex spatio-temporal behavior and moment release. Particularly common in volcanic regions, earthquake swarms, intense foreshock activity, and sequences of earthquakes with comparable magnitudes are observed across all tectonic settings, challenging conventional earthquake laws (e.g., Båth's law, Omori-Utsu, and Gutenberg-Richter). Potential triggering mechanisms include changes in pore pressure, aseismic slip events (creep, slow slip), magma-induced stress perturbations, and earthquake-earthquake interactions.
Recent advances in earthquake catalog generation, through machine learning, template matching, and double difference techniques, now provide unprecedented resolution for investigating complex sequences, reveal their triggering mechanisms, and shed light on the underlying physical processes. This session will bring together studies of earthquake swarms and complex seismic sequences across diverse tectonic settings and scales.
We welcome contributions that focus on the analysis of earthquake swarms and complex seismic sequences in terms of spatio-temporal evolution, frequency-magnitude distribution, scaling properties, triggering mechanism, as well as laboratory and numerical modeling simulating the mechanical conditions yielding swarm-like and complex seismic sequences. Multidisciplinary studies integrating deformation data, geophysical imaging, geology, and fluid geochemistry are particularly encouraged. The overarching goal is to synthesize knowledge from various tectonic environments to improve our understanding of the physical processes governing complex seismic sequences.
Stephen Hicks